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Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad (1769): Map

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The
Spanish ship Santísima Trinidad
(officially named Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen
Fin) was a first-rateship of the line of 120 guns, which was
increased in 1795-96 to 136 guns by closing in the spar deck
between the quarter deck and forecastle, thus creating what was in
effect a continuous fourth gundeck although the extra guns added
were actually relatively small. She was the largest ship in
the world when built.

Design & construction

She was
built at Havana, Cuba, to a
design by Irishnaval architect Matthew Mullan and launched
in 1769 as an 120-gun three-decker
(some sources say 116 or 112 guns).She was considerably
larger than her British contemporary Victory and somewhat bigger than the French Bretagne.

Schematics of the layout of the
Santísima Trinidad

There is no complete plan of the ship in existence, but there are
of the 112-gun ship from 1765, which might be found the original
dimensions of the ship : (the next dimension are in feet of Burgos
(278,6 mm), and metres.)length = 213 2/3 (59,53), keel= 182 5/12
(50,82), beam= 57 3/4 (16,09), depth= 28 11/12 (8,06).

In 1795, her forecastle was joined to her
quarterdeck to create a fourth deck
containing a battery of eight pounder guns, giving her a total of
140 guns. Her armament seems to have been quickly reduced to 130 to
136 guns, but she still carried more guns than any other ship of
her time. As the only ship with four gun decks, she was
reputed to be the largest warship in the world, for which she was
nicknamed El
Escorial de los
mares by the Spanish, until surpassed in sheer size by the
new type French
120-gun ships such as the Océan and Orient .

The weight of the additional guns, so high above her waterline,
made her sail poorly, leading to her nickname, El Ponderoso. It was even suggested
by some naval officers that she should be restricted to the defense
of the Bay of
Cádiz.

Santísima Trinidad remains famous as one of the few
four-decker ships of the line ever
built. The U.S. Navy constructed the four-deck, 136-gun , and the
Royal Navy planned—but did not actually build—the four-deck
Duke of Kent.

Service

Figurehead of the Santisima Trinidad
at berth in the harbour of Málaga

In July
1779, Spain declared war
on Great Britain, joining France in support
of the American colonists in the American War of
Independence.Santísima Trinidad became the
flagship of the Spanish fleet, taking part in the Franco-Spanish
operations in the English
Channel in the late summer of that year.

In August 1780 she took part in the capture of 55 ships from an
English convoy of 63, escorted by the ship of the lineHMS Ramillies and three
frigates. In 1782 she was incorporated into the Mediterranean
Squadron, participating in the second siege of Gibraltar and she
fought in the brief and indecisive Battle of Cape Spartel. In 1795, she
was modified by the addition of extra 8-pounder guns on a new deck
between her forecastle and quarterdeck.

In 1797,
she was the flagship of Teniente GeneralJosé de Córdoba, the Spanish commander,
at Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February1797, where she was badly damaged and nearly captured
by the British fleet. She was first in action with the
British ship Captain
(74), commanded by Commodore Nelson, and Culloden (74). She was then
attacked by the Blenheim (90), Orion (74), Irresistible (74) and
Excellent (74). By now she was severely damaged, having
lost all her masts and with half of her crew killed or wounded. She
struck her colours, but the
British failed to take possession and she was saved by the
Pelayo (74) and Principe de Asturias (112).
Several days later, Santísima Trinidad was spotted, still
damaged, making her way back to Spain, and engaged by the 32-gun
frigate under Captain Richard Bowen,
but she escaped. She eventually returned to Cadiz for
repairs.

Eight
years later, commanded by Francisco Javier Uriarte and Rear AdmiralBaltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros,
she took part in the Battle of Trafalgar on October 211805, as part of the combined Franco-Spanish
fleet. Due to her great bulk, her helm was unresponsive in
the light winds of the day, contributing to her ineffective service
of the combined fleet's cause. Her great size and position
immediately ahead of the fleet flagship Bucentaure made her a
target for the British fleet, and she came under concentrated
attack by several ships. She lost her mast and eventually
surrendered to the Neptune, commanded by CaptainThomas Fremantle. She was taken
in tow by the Prince, but
sank in a storm the day after the battle having been scuttled by
her British captors.

Replicas

A
full-size replica model of the Santísima Trinidad can be
seen and visited in the harbour of Málaga, in
Spain.

A
non-profit non-governmental Canadian association, the Friends of
Santísima Trinidad[178232], is assisting the Office of the Historian of
the City of Havana, Cuba with the
construction of a new 1:25 four-metre-long scale model of La
Santísima Trinidad. Interior construction details will be
exposed on one side of the vessel, and visitors will be able to use
a computer interface and touch screen to take a virtual tour of the
ship in Spanish, English, and French. The model will be
displayed in the Naval Museum of La Habana, opened in June 2008 at
Castillo de
la Real Fuerza, the oldest building in Cuba and the oldest stone
fortress in the New World.